Usually when we go for long drives it’s my dad that takes the wheel. He’s totally at ease driving while I used to be a nervous wreck!

I stopped driving for 7 years while I was living abroad, but when I came back home, one of the first things I had to do was get a car. I got back into the swing of it quite quickly, but I was still happy to stick with short journeys.

Today I decided to be brave and ended up doing a 180 miles coastal tour with my dad and I loved every second of it!

We even managed to fit in some time for some photo breaks!

I guess the moral of this is, go do that thing that you’ve always wanted to try but have been too afraid to. Go on that long trip, dye your hair that shade of pink you’ve always wanted to, try skydiving…

You might fail, but hey, you can learn just as much from failure as you can from success. It’s all about attitude.

So, I used to dye my hair all the time. You name a colour, my hair has been it (sometimes intentionally, sometimes not).

I stopped dyeing my hair about 6 years ago as my hair really needed a break but lately I’ve had that itch to dye it again. I managed to resist for a couple of months, but I finally gave in and dyed it again.

I have to admit, considering the fact that the dye literally cost £1, I am so pleased with the results!

Hopefully this cures my desire to dye my hair and doesn’t just make it worse…

It has been almost exactly two years since I last posted on here… To be honest, I had completely forgotten about this account until I received an email completely out of the blue from someone who had liked one of my posts from way back when!

I plan on becoming more active again. Looking forward to getting back into it!

Today, a colleague and friend of mine, told me her heart-breaking story. We were almost at the end of our first class of the afternoon when her phone rang. A common occurrence as parents of our students often call to ask how their kids are doing in class or if they have any homework. However, this time when she picked up her phone she froze and her eyes stayed glued to the screen. I called her name a couple of times as the kids belted out “I’m a little teapot” in the background. She didn’t answer and let the phone continue to ring.

I ended the class and the kids went back to their classrooms. The next class wasn’t due to start for another ten minutes but, as usual, the kids of the next class were already standing outside. I ushered the kids inside and took my friend outside. Her eyes were red and brimming with tears. I asked her what was wrong and she confessed her story to me.

She had married the man she loved and later they had a beautiful baby girl. But everything was not all it seemed, her husband was very abusive towards her, physically, verbally, emotionally and financially. One day, around a year ago, she found the strength to leave her husband and even though she gained her freedom, she lost something else which, to her, was equally important. Her now four year old daughter. In a place where money and connections are power, her now ex-husband, used his money and influence to take her daughter away from her. She has been trying to get her daughter back ever since.

Because his work is far away, her daughter lives with her grandmother through the week and with her father at the weekends. Both of them told my friend that she has no right so see her own child, just because she left her husband. What kind of thinking is that? My friend has explained her reasons for leaving, but either her ex mother-in-law doesn’t believe what her son done to my friend, or she is pretending it didn’t happen. Either way, I believe she has no right to keep a child away from her mother. I’ve known my friend for over a year now, she is one of the kindest, friendliest and most honest people I have ever met. All of her students love her. All of the student’s parents love her. All of the staff who work with her love her.

But behind her smiling face lies a burning pain in her heart knowing that she cannot see her own child. During the week, she went to her daughter’s kindergarten and saw her there for only a few minutes. When she went to leave, her four year old daughter grabbed her by the hand and said, “Mummy, don’t go. Please stay with me. I promise I won’t tell Granny or Daddy.” Even this innocent four year old child knows what her father would do to her mother if he saw them together. Unfortunately, the phone call my friend received today was from her ex-husband, she can only assume that he found out about her seeing her daughter. I cannot forget the look on her face, she told me that if she answered his call, he would curse and verbally abuse her through the phone, and threaten to physically harm her.

I’ve never had someone confess such a story to me before, until today a story like this would only be one I would hear about on the news, not straight from the mouth of a dear friend. I felt helpless as there was nothing I could do except let her cry. Even words of comfort wouldn’t come out. What could I say? “Everything is going to be OK?” Who am I to make such a promise? However, I am sure that my feeling of helplessness is nothing compared to the despair of the mother who will now be at home, without her precious daughter by her side.

I’m new to this whole blogging thing but I’m lucky enough that there seem to be people out there who are enjoying reading my blog. However, long before I started writing this blog, I was writing stories, fan fictions to be precise. I was wondering if anyone else out there writes stories as well? I’m still a complete novice at both blog writing and story writing but I really want to improve. I’ve been working on my own novel for a while as well.

If anyone is interested in anime and would be interested in my stories, here’s my username https://www.fanfiction.net/~forfirith87

If any other writers read this, send me a link to your stuff! I’d love to read! 😀